Community Action Council Hires Successor To Jack Burch

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Community Action Council has a new Executive Director. Malcolm Ratchford is the agency’s former manager for neighborhood and community services. He has more than 16 years of community action agency experience, 12 on the managerial side. Ratchford succeeds long-time Executive Director Jack Burch who retired from the post last month.

Malcolm Ratchford succeeds Jack Burch as the new Executive Director of Community Action Council

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“I appreciate the legacy and the foundation that Jack has built. It was tremendous and I was a part of that while we were here so I really respect the leadership and he was a mentor to me," Ratchford told WUKY. "But I do know that my vision is a little bit different, in terms of more innovation, but I definitely understand the legacy and foundation and this place wouldn’t be what it is today if it were not for Jack so I definitely understand that and want to continue the excellence that he’s created but also push us forward.”

Ratchford says his overarching goal is to improve on the methods the CAC uses to inform stakeholders and the community of successful anti-poverty programs.

“We do reporting and outcome reporting but we can’t actually show did we really change the poverty level for a family? When you look at that data all you’ll see is a bunch of stories in terms of we got 20 people GED’s. Well, if the GED’s didn’t help the person get employment then their economic security level never changed…and we can actually capture that by just following folks that we interact with on a daily basis.”

Ratchford will oversee an agency of 275 employees, more than 600 volunteers and an annual budget of 25-million dollars.